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Box 2.11: Education for All

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UNESCO is mandated to coordinate EFA partners and to maintain the momentum of collaboration (Dakar Framework for Action, 2000, paragraph 19). A number of initiatives have been set in motion to generate sustained global commitment and support for country level efforts to implement EFA, including: the EFA Global Monitoring Report, now a standard reference document for all partners in the field of education; the Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education for All; national and regional EFA Forums; the annual High-Level Group on EFA; and the Working Group on EFA.

The EFA strategy emphasizes eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education through the UNICEF-led Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), a ten-year sustained effort to promote girls’ education, which involves 13 UN entities in a wide range of partnerships with civil society organizations and networks. UNGEI focuses intensive action on 25 countries most at risk of failing to meet the goal.

The World Bank-led EFA-Fast Track Initiative has set up a global partnership of donors and developing countries to mobilize supplementary funding and to accelerate progress in low-income countries towards the goal of universal primary education. EFA-FTI focuses on country ownership, support linked to performance, lower transaction costs and transparency. Supported by bilateral donors, regional development banks, and UN organizations, such as UNESCO, WFP and UNICEF, EFI-FTI has improved efficiency in: the allocation of resources to primary education service delivery, system expansion, system financing and spending for primary education. WFP has supported EFA-FTI through school feeding with $400 to $500 million per year, as part of an Essential Package of interventions for basic education which it promotes in cooperation with other EFA partners.

Civil society organizations, notably in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, have increasingly organized themselves to present a coherent voice and to build systematic relationships with governments and international agencies in support of EFA. The Global Campaign for Education plays a strong advocacy role at the international level. Regional and national networks also are emerging or gaining ground, while communities are becoming more engaged in educational issues and advocacy.